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We assessed monolingual Spanish and bilingual Spanish-Basque toddlers' sensitivity to gender agreement in correct vs. incorrect Spanish noun phrases (definite article + noun), using a spontaneous preference listening paradigm. Monolingual Spanish-learning toddlers exhibited a tendency to listen longer to the grammatically correct phrases (e.g., la casa ; "the house"), as opposed to the incorrect ones (e.g., * el casa). This listening preference toward correct phrases is in line with earlier results obtained from French monolingual 18-month-olds (van Heugten & Christophe, 2015). Bilingual toddlers in the current study, however, tended to listen longer to the incorrect phrases. Basque was not a source of interference in the bilingual toddler's input as Basque does not instantiate grammatical gender agreement. Overall, our results suggest that both monolingual and bilingual toddlers can distinguish between the correct and incorrect phrases by 18 months of age; however, monolinguals and bilinguals allocate their attention differently when processing grammatically incorrect forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The child’s interaction with the natural environment allows different learning opportunities and favors their motor development, which may be affected after a period of environmental deprivation, a consequence of home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objective of the study was to analyze the different areas of motor development, as well as the quality of life of children aged 0 to 3 years old after home confinement by COVID-19 and the possible correlation between both variables, and the influence of parental stimulation on motor development during this time of exclusive interaction with the immediate environment (home and family). A descriptive study was performed. A simple and anonymous questionnaire was created for parents of children between 0 and 3 years old who lived in Spain during the period of home confinement due to COVID-19 (March to June 2020). The measurement instrument used was a questionnaire made in “Google Forms”, where the variables were collected: Motor development (measured through the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, ASQ3), Quality of life (assessed with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, PedsQL) and other variables, such as stimulation, performed during home confinement. Eighty-eight questionnaires were validated. The highest score in the motor development domains were obtained in children 2–3 years old. The motor domain of children aged 2–3 years old that obtained the highest score was communication (M = 54.69 ± 10.03) and the highest score in the quality of life was obtained in children aged 0–1 years old (M = 85.47 ± 12.39), also acquiring the lowest score in the emotional domain in all age groups (0–1, 1–2 and 2–3 years old). The assessment of motor development and quality of life after home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic did not determine low values, so it would not have been affected during this period of lack of interaction with the natural environment. Emphasizing that the emotional aspect within quality of life was the lowest score, this indicates that children from 0 to 3 years old need more emotional support in situations of variability of daily routines and of family stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to longitudinally examine mean length of utterance in words (MLU-w) and number of different words (NDW) and their association in children speaking Cypriot Greek (CG), a dialect for which such measures of language development have not been adequately investigated. Language samples from 36 typically developing monolingual CG-speaking children were collected at 4-month intervals from the age of 3;0 until 4;0 through free-play based conversation between the children and their caregivers. A zero-order correlation analysis among MLU-w, NDW, and age showed strong positive correlations between any two of these measures. A first-order analysis controlling for age showed that the correlation between MLU-w and NDW was independent from the influence of age. The study provides valuable information on the correlation between MLU-w and NDW for CG-speaking children and it contributes to our knowledge about language development in a dialectal variety lacking standardised tests.

Many individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) suffer from pain and must develop pain-coping strategies, although the factors determining them are unknown. This observational study aims at exploring the association between different pain-coping strategies and factors such as age, sex, pain, health status, sleep or motor and cognitive function in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) and typically developing peers (TD). Main caregivers of 94 individuals with CP (age range = 6–69 years, mean age = 17.78 (10.05)) and the closest relative of 145 individuals with TD (age range = 6–51 years, mean age = 19.13 (12.87)) completed questionnaires on the previous topics (Parent Report of the PEDsQL Pediatric Coping Inventory, the Health Utility Index HUI-3, Epworth Sleepiness Score and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). Pain presence, duration, intensity, location and ratings of current and worst pain in the last week in an 11-point numerical rating scale were assessed in an interview. Global health was the best predictor the of use of any type of pain-coping strategy, including cognitive self-instruction, problem-solving, distraction, seeking social support and catastrophizing, in both individuals with CP and individuals with TD. However, different health attributes predicted their use in each population. Emotional health was the best predictor in individuals with CP, whereas cognition and pain were the best predictors in individuals with TD. Speech ability was a predictor in both groups. In conclusion, the assessment of health attributes such as emotional health and speech may help design specific interventions for enhancing self-efficacy and adaptive pain coping skills.

The current study investigated cognitive flexibility in preschool children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and those with typical development using the Reverse Categorization (RC) task and the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task. We further examined the relationship between non-verbal mental age (NVMA) and the performance on the two tasks. While no significant difference in performance on the RC task between the two groups was found, significantly more children in the typical developing group passed the DCCS task than children in the ASD group. NVMA was found to correlate with performance in both tasks in the typical developing group but not in the ASD group. When the children were matched on NVMA, no differences in task performance between the two groups were found. The current study found the disparity in performance in two groups on the RC and the DCCS tasks, hence illuminating the importance related to the selection of tasks when studying cognitive flexibility in preschool children with ASD. The study also cast some light on the involvement of NVMA in the performance on the RC and DCCS tasks.

Brain functional networks undergo substantial development and refinement during the first years of life. Yet, the maturational pathways of functional network development remain poorly understood. Using resting-state fMRI data acquired during natural sleep from 24 typically developing toddlers, ages 1.5–3.5 years, we aimed to examine the large-scale resting-state functional networks and their relationship with age and developmental skills. Specifically, two network organization indices reflecting network connectivity and spatial variability were derived. Our results revealed that reduced spatial variability or increased network homogeneity in one of the default mode network components was associated with age, with older children displaying less spatially variable posterior DMN subcomponent, consistent with the notion of increased spatial and functional specialization. Further, greater network homogeneity in higher-order functional networks, including the posterior default mode, salience, and language networks, was associated with more advanced developmental skills measured with a standardized assessment of early learning, regardless of age. These results not only improve our understanding of brain functional network development during toddler years, but also inform the relationship between brain network organization and emerging cognitive and behavioral skills.

This study investigated how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts children's ability to identify ownership from linguistic cues (proper nouns vs. possessive pronouns) and their awareness of ownership rights. In comparison to typically developing (TD) children matched on receptive language (M age equivalents: 53–56 months), children with ASD were less accurate at tracking owner-object relationships based on possessive pronouns and were less accurate at identifying the property of third parties. We also found that children with ASD were less likely to defend their own and others' ownership rights. We hypothesise that these results may be attributed to differences in representing the self and propose that ASD may be characterised by reduced concern for ownership and associated concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have delayed development and atypical movements including kicking. We hypothesized that a kicking intervention would significantly increase leg movement rate. Nine infants, 3–5 months old, with DS used a commercially available toy that encouraged kicking. The intervention was administered in their home for 20 minutes, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks. Leg movement rate was measured using Opal wearable sensors before and after the intervention. At post-test, a secondary analysis compared infants with DS to infants with typical development (TD). Average leg movement rate increased significantly from pre to post intervention, from 2253 to 2645 movements per hour of awake time (p = 0.049). Compared to data from nine infants with TD, infants with DS had a significantly lower movement rate post intervention (p = 0.002). The infants with DS demonstrated a higher leg movement rate following an in-home kicking intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibitory control, the ability to suppress irrelevant thoughts or actions, is central to cognitive and social development. Protracted maturation of frontal brain networks has been reported as a major restraint for this ability, yet, young children, when motivated, successfully inhibit delayed responses. A better understanding of the age-dependent neural inhibitory mechanism operating during the awaiting-to-respond window in children may elucidate this conundrum. We recorded ERPs from children and parental adults to a visual-spatial working memory task with delayed responses. Cortical activation elicited during the first 1000 ms of the awaiting-to-respond window showed, as predicted by prior studies, early inhibitory effects in prefrontal ERPs (P200, 160–260 ms) associated with top-down attentional-biasing, and later effects in parietal/occipital ERPs (P300, 270–650 ms) associated with selective inhibition of task-irrelevant stimuli/responses and recurrent memory retrieval. Children successfully inhibited delayed responses and performed with a high level of accuracy (often over 90%), although, the prefrontal P200 displayed reduced amplitude and uniformly delayed peak latency, suggesting low efficacy of top-down attentional-biasing. P300, however, with no significant age-contrasts in latency was markedly elevated in children over the occipital/inferior parietal regions, with effects stronger in younger children. These results provide developmental evidence supporting the sensorimotor recruitment model of visual-spatial working memory relying on the occipital/parietal regions of the early maturing dorsal-visual network. The evidence is in line with the concept of age-dependent variability in the recruitment of cognitive inhibitory networks, complementing the former predominant focus on frontal lobes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated cognitive flexibility in preschool children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and those with typical development using the Reverse Categorization (RC) task and the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task. We further examined the relationship between non-verbal mental age (NVMA) and the performance on the two tasks. While no significant difference in performance on the RC task between the two groups was found, significantly more children in the typical developing group passed the DCCS task than children in the ASD group. NVMA was found to correlate with performance in both tasks in the typical developing group but not in the ASD group. When the children were matched on NVMA, no differences in task performance between the two groups were found. The current study found the disparity in performance in two groups on the RC and the DCCS tasks, hence illuminating the importance related to the selection of tasks when studying cognitive flexibility in preschool children with ASD. The study also cast some light on the involvement of NVMA in the performance on the RC and DCCS tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the performance of typically developing Swedish-speaking children on DYMTA (Dynamisk Motorisk Talbedömning), a Swedish dynamic motor speech assessment. Method: Participants were 94 children, 45 boys/49 girls (9/8 multilingual), with typical oral motor, speech, and language skills, between 37 and 106 months divided into five age-groups. They performed two speech motor assessments, DYMTA-A and DYMTA-B using dynamic assessment. Result: Typically developing children show good motor speech performance on targeted speech characteristics already at the age of three. DYMTA median total score was high for all ages; 90% of maximum or above. A significant correlation with age was found for DYMTA-A (p = 0.000, r = 0.49) and DYMTA-B (p = 0.000, r = 0.77). No significant differences were found across gender or concerning being mono- or multilingual. Conclusion: DYMTA is the first Swedish assessment tool designed to identify children with CAS. The results of this study demonstrate that typically developing Swedish children perform well on DYMTA and that the test has possible utility for both mono- and multilingual children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Knowledge: International Journal is the property of Institute for Knowledge Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Knowledge: International Journal is the property of Institute for Knowledge Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Knowledge: International Journal is the property of Institute for Knowledge Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Knowledge: International Journal is the property of Institute for Knowledge Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: Studies on the interface between statistical learning and language are dominated by its role in word segmentation and association with grammar skills, while research on its role in lexical development is scarce. The current study is aimed at exploring whether and how statistical learning and verbal short-term memory are associated with lexical skills in typically developing German-speaker primary school children (Experiment 1) and Hungarian-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD, Experiment 2).Methods: We used the language-relevant Peabody Picture Vocabulary Tests to measure individual differences in vocabulary. Statistical learning skills were assessed with the Weather Prediction task, in which participants learn probabilistic cue-outcome associations based on item-based feedback. Verbal short-term memory span was assessed with the Forward digit span task.Results: Hierarchical linear regression modelling was used to test the contribution of different functions to vocabulary size. In TD children, statistical learning skills had an independent contribution to vocabulary size over and above age, receptive grammatical abilities and short-term memory, whereas working memory did not have an independent contribution. The pattern was reverse in SLI: Vocabulary size was predicted by short-term memory skills over and above age, receptive grammar and statistical learning, whereas statistical learning had no independent contribution.Conclusion: Our results suggest that lexical development rely on different underlying memory processes in typical development and in developmental language disorder to different degrees. This qualitative difference is discussed in the light of different stages of lexical development, as well as the contribution of the different human memory systems to vocabulary acquisition.

INTRODUCTION: Leisure is fundamental for promoting health and well-being and is a social right in Brazil. It favors inclusion and prevents health problems. In occupational therapy, leisure activities are essential for personal development and autonomy. Still, there is a lack of research in Latin America exploring the relationship between leisure, gender, and physical limitations. OBJECTIVE: This study is part of a doctoral research project focused on validating the Self-reported Experiences of Activity Settings (SEAS - Br) instrument and seeks to compare the choices of leisure activities among young people. METHODS: The study adopted a cross-sectional, qualitative, and quantitative approach, using a convenience sample of young people aged between 14 and 23 with typical development and others with physical disabilities. The Federal University of São Carlos Research Ethics Committee approved the study. RESULTS: Participants were 75 young people aged between 14 and 23, fifty with typical development, and twenty-five with physical disabilities, with most participants female (53.33%). They chose a leisure activity and carried it out for at least 15 minutes, assessing their level of engagement. Fifty-five types of leisure activities were identified, which were categorized into (I) Screen activities (10.66%); (II) Musical activities (10.66%); (III) Artistic and cultural activities (42.66%); and (IV) Sports or physical activities (36%). Typical young people preferred artistic activities (48%) and sports (32%), while young people with physical disabilities prioritized sports (44%) and artistic activities (32%). Notably, the girls predominantly chose artistic activities, while the boys opted for sporting activities in both groups. CONCLUSION: The results emphasize the importance of leisure activities, highlighting the differences in preferences between young people with typical development and those with physical disabilities, as well as gender variations. This information is crucial for occupational therapy, guiding the practice of interventions that promote inclusion and well-being. In addition, the research highlights the need for more studies in Latin America on the impact of leisure on health and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anticorrelated resting state connectivity between task-positive and task-negative networks in adults supports flexible shifting between externally focused attention and internal thought. Findings suggest that children show positive correlations between task-positive (frontoparietal; FP) and task-negative (default mode; DMN) networks. FP-DMN connectivity also associates with intellectual functioning across the lifespan. We investigated whether FP-DMN connectivity in healthy children varied with age and intelligence quotient (IQ). Methods: We utilized network-based statistics (NBS) to examine resting state functional connectivity between FP and DMN seeds in N = 133 7−25-year-olds (Mage = 15.80). Linear regression evaluated FP-DMN associations with IQ. Results: We detected NBS subnetworks containing both within- and between-network connections that were inversely associated with age. Four FP-DMN connections showed more negative connectivity between FP (inferior frontal gyrus and precentral gyrus) and DMN regions (frontal medial cortex, precuneus, and frontal pole) among older participants. Frontal pole-precentral gyrus connectivity inversely associated with IQ. Conclusions: FP-DMN connectivity was more anticorrelated at older ages, potentially indicating dynamic network segregation of these circuits from childhood to early adulthood. Youth with more mature (i.e., anticorrelated) FP-DMN connectivity demonstrated higher IQ. Our findings add to the growing body of literature examining neural network development and its association with IQ.

Objectives: The Developmental Profile of Social Communication (DPSC) is based on the communication and language development in children with social communication difficulties. DPSC facilitates understanding of the challenges these children face in social interaction, communication, and linguistic development. It utilizes clinician and parent responses to build the developmental profiles of individuals. The profile allows clinicians to determine the therapeutic goals for improved cooperation and communication in various contexts. In addition, it provides insight into the parents' perspective. The aim of this study is to present the preliminary results of the DPSC in typically developing Greek children. Methods: The DPSC, a 112-item questionnaire, was administered to 357 parents of typically developing children aged 2–7.5 years using a 3-scale rating of answers. It was applied electronically via Google forms, and parents were able to ask for clarification on questions. All answers were categorized and then analyzed under independent variables. Results: Descriptive and hypothesis testing were used to summarize participant characteristics and performance. Findings suggest that children >7.5 years tended to develop most of the rated skills of DPSC adequately. Conclusions: It was determined that the DPSC questionnaire is an easily administered tool that enables the evaluation of the social communication abilities of children of different ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feeding problems have been estimated to occur in approximately 25-45% of normally developing children. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of feeding problems in typically developing young children in Greece. Child feeding behavior, parents' feelings about their child's feeding patterns, and parental feeding practices were also explored. Parents completed the Greek version of the Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS). Data on 742 healthy, typically developing children aged two to seven years are presented. Overall, the majority of children in the sample showed high frequency of desirable mealtime behaviors and low frequency of undesirable mealtime behaviors. However, a significant proportion of the cohort presented with food neophobia and low consumption of vegetables. When applying test cut-off scores, it was found that 8.2% of the sample had abnormal Total Frequency Score (TFS) and 26.6% had abnormal Total Problem Score (TPS). The study showed that parent-reported feeding problems are quite common in children of typical development in Greece. Moreover, while the majority of the sample displayed a high frequency of favorable behaviors, specific child feeding behaviors are amenable to improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Comportamentalia is the property of Instituto de Psicologia y Educacion de la Universidad Veracruzana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Development of syntactic processing was examined to evaluate maturational processes including left language lateralization functions and increased specialization of brain regions important for syntactic processing. We utilized multimodal methods, including indices of brain activity from fMRI during a syntactic processing task, cortical thickness measurements from structural MRI, and neuropsychological measures. To evaluate hypotheses about increasing lateralization and specialization with development, we examined relationships between cortical thickness and magnitude and spatial activation extent within the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and its right hemisphere homologue. We predicted that increased activation in the left and decreased activation in the right IFG would be associated with increased syntactic proficiency. As predicted, a more mature pattern of increased thickness in the right pars triangularis was associated with decreased activation intensity and extent in the right IFG. These findings suggest a maturational shift towards decreased involvement of the right IFG for syntactic processing. Better syntactic skills were associated with increased activation in the left IFG independent from age, suggesting increased specialization of the left IFG with increased proficiency. Overall, our findings show relationships between structural and functional neurodevelopment that co-occur with improved syntactic processing in critical language regions of the IFG in typically developing children.

The purpose of this pilot study was to compare walking speed, an important component of gait, in the laboratory and daily life, in young individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) and with typical development (TD), and to quantify to what extent gait observed in clinical settings compares to gait in real life. Fifteen children, adolescents and young adults with CP (6 GMFCS I, 2 GMFCS II, and 7 GMFCS III) and 14 with TD were included. They wore 4 synchronized inertial sensors on their shanks and thighs while walking at their spontaneous self-selected speed in the laboratory, and then during 2 week-days and 1 weekend day in their daily environment. Walking speed was computed from shank angular velocity signals using a validated algorithm. The median of the speed distributions in the laboratory and daily life were compared at the group and individual levels using Wilcoxon tests and Spearman’s correlation coefficients. The corresponding percentile of daily life speed equivalent to the speed in the laboratory was computed and observed at the group level. Daily-life walking speed was significantly lower compared to the laboratory for the CP group (0.91 [0.58–1.23] m/s vs 1.07 [0.73–1.28] m/s, p = 0.015), but not for TD (1.29 [1.24–1.40] m/s vs 1.29 [1.20–1.40] m/s, p = 0.715). Median speeds correlated highly in CP (p < 0.001, rho = 0.89), but not in TD. In children with CP, 60% of the daily life walking activity was at a slower speed than in-laboratory (corresponding percentile = 60). On the contrary, almost 60% of the daily life activity of TD was at a faster speed than in-laboratory (corresponding percentile = 42.5). Nevertheless, highly heterogeneous behaviors were observed within both populations and within subgroups of GMFCS level. At the group level, children with CP tend to under-perform during natural walking as compared to walking in a clinical environment. The heterogeneous behaviors at the individual level indicate that real-life gait performance cannot be directly inferred from in-laboratory capacity. This emphasizes the importance of completing clinical gait analysis with data from daily life, to better understand the overall function of children with CP.

The object of this study is the development of metalinguistic abilities in an age range—5 to 7 years—where an important turn takes place in education, namely the transition between kindergarten and primary school. Based on the literature starting from the 70’s of the last century, embryonic forms of awareness of how language variation can be manipulated to convey variation in meaning are widely attested in preschoolers. These forms, however, denote an intuitive and implicit level of awareness and will attain a “meta-level”, based on more systematic and explicit reflectiveness, later in development in correlation with cognitive, linguistic, and educational factors. To measure the development of these abilities across the above age range, we recruited 160 native Italian-speaking children from 5 to 7, with comparable numerosity at each age, gender balance, average socio-cultural background, and no cognitive nor neuropsychological impairment. We used 6 metalinguistic tasks, the Raven’s CPM, a lexical and grammatical ability tests. The results showed a significant increase in all the measures across the span considered and correlations between all the measures. A factor analysis on the metalinguistic tasks showed that a single factor accounted for a large part of the common variance.

Abstract Background A growing body of anecdotal evidence indicates that the use of robots may provide unique opportunities for assisting children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, previous studies investigating the effects of interventions using robots on joint attention (JA) in children with ASD have shown insufficient results. The robots used in these studies could not turn their eyes, which was a limitation preventing the robot from resembling a human agent. Methods We compared the behavior of children with ASD with that of children with typical development (TD) during a JA elicitation task while the children interacted with either a human or a robotic agent. We used the robot “CommU,” which has clear eyes and can turn its eyes, for the robotic intervention. The age range of the participants was limited to 5–6 years. Results Sixty-eight participants participated in this study, including 30 (10 females and 20 males) children with ASD and 38 (13 females and 25 males) children with TD. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the following two groups: the robotic intervention group or the control group. JA in the children with ASD was better during the robotic intervention than during the human agent intervention. These children exhibited improved performance in the JA task with human after interacting with the robot CommU. JA was differentially facilitated by the human and robotic agents between the ASD and TD children. Conclusions The findings of this study significantly contribute to the literature on the impact of robots on JA and provide information regarding the suitability of specific robot types for therapeutic use.

The present research is designed as an attempt to explore one of the most significant dimensions of child development, that is, adaptive functioning and the contribution of personal and familial demographic variables associated with it among children following typical developmental pattern. The sample comprised 239 children selected through multistage sampling from public and private mainstream schools of Lahore city, Pakistan. The data was analyzed through SPSS. Age, gender, marital status of parents, joint family system and family income turned out to be significant correlates of adaptive functioning. Family system, age and gender wise mean score differences were significant. Findings were discussed in socio cultural context.

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience difficulty adapting to daily life in a preschool or school settings and are likely to develop psychosomatic symptoms. For a better understanding of the difficulties experienced daily by preschool children and adolescents with ASD, this study investigated differences in eye gaze behavior in the classroom environment between children with ASD and those with typical development (TD). Methods: The study evaluated 30 children with ASD and 49 children with TD. Participants were presented with images of a human face and a classroom scene. While they gazed at specific regions of visual stimuli, eye tracking with an iView X system was used to evaluate and compare the duration of gaze time between the two groups. Results: Compared with preschool children with TD, preschool children with ASD spent less time gazing at the eyes of the human face and the object at which the teacher pointed in the classroom image. Preschool children with TD who had no classroom experience tended to look at the object the teacher pointed at in the classroom image. Conclusion: Children with ASD did not look at the human eyes in the facial image or the object pointed at in the classroom image, which may indicate their inability to analyze situations, understand instruction in a classroom, or act appropriately in a group. This suggests that this gaze behavior of children with ASD causes social maladaptation and psychosomatic symptoms. A therapeutic approach that focuses on joint attention is desirable for improving the ability of children with ASD to adapt to their social environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In oral discourse, speakers use gestures that allow them to explain, expand or reinforce the message to be conveyed. In special populations, specifically subjects with Down syndrome (DS), gestures are a communicative resource that compensates for the articulatory difficulties of these people. In this research we are interested in analyzing the use of the gestural component in the communicative process of adults with DS. For this purpose, we studied the gestural production and its relationship with the oral discourse of two adults with DS and compared it with two typically developing (TD) subjects in order to determine the types and functions of the gestures contained in the oral production of the two subjects with DS, following the classification of Poggi and Magno (1998). We rely on the data obtained to affirm that gestures are inseparable forms of oral production. We conclude that the gestural component is a useful tool in the communicative process of both people with intellectual disabilities and typically developing subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood feeding problems can be challenging. Children who limit their food consumption may significantly impact multiple critical areas of development. Effective treatment should be accessed as early as possible but has been limited to a handful of US hospital programmes. Feeding problems affect both children with and without disability, and families may struggle with multiple children having feeding difficulties. We provided short-term (less than 2 weeks), in-home, intensive, behaviour-analytic feeding intervention to two children with typical development who were younger siblings of children already in the programme. We used a withdrawal/reversal design to assess the effects of nonremoval of the spoon, re-presentation, contingent and noncontingent access to tangibles, differential attention, and response cost. This multi-component intervention was effective in increasing the consumption of a wide variety of foods at regular texture and self-feeding for both participants. Variety was increased to over 60 foods from all food groups. Admission goals were met (100%). We trained caregivers to high procedural integrity and generalised the protocol. We provided actual plate picture examples of family meals consumed where the brothers and parents ate the same meal. Caregiver satisfaction and social acceptability were high. Gains were maintained at 3-year follow-up where parents reported problems were fully resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Akan is one of the most widely spoken indigenous languages in Ghana, very little is known about children's phonological development. This paper investigates the development of consonants in Akan among typically developing children aged 3–5 years. A list of 103 Akan words was compiled, sampling the full range of prosodic structures, sound positions, features and segments, and controlling for word familiarity. A native Akan speaker audio-recorded the 103 single-word productions from each of nine typically developing children aged 3–5 years. The child productions were transcribed and analysed following procedures used in a larger cross-linguistic study. The current study presents results on the acquisition of consonants across the various ages. Preliminary results indicate that most consonants in Akan are mastered by age 4 or 5, similar to reports for other languages, although /w/ and /l/ showed late mastery, contrary to cross-linguistic observations. The rhotic /ɹ/ and consonants with secondary articulation were still developing at age 4 and showing a variety of mismatch patterns across children. The findings provide preliminary information for developmentalists and speech-language pathologists on typical phonological development in Akan and contribute to a growing database on language acquisition in Niger-Congo languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with autism spectrum disorder are often reported to have more sleep deficits and poorer sleep quality compared with children with typical development. However, most previous studies have serious methodological limitations, such as varying sample sizes in the comparison groups, wide age range of participants, and body mass index not matched between participants. This study investigated whether sleep patterns differed between children with autism spectrum disorder and those with typical development using a carefully matched case–control design and incorporating both actigraphy and sleep log assessments. A total of 78 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were matched with 78 typical development controls in this study. The matched variables included age, gender, and body mass index. The results showed that children with autism spectrum disorder had shorter sleep duration, reduced sleep efficiency, longer sleep-onset latency, and longer wake after sleep onset than children with typical development (p s < 0.05). Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms underlying these sleep deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder. This study compared the sleep pattern between children with autism spectrum disorders and children with typical development using a matched case–control design (matched age, gender, and body mass index). Significant differences were found in night-time sleep duration (total amount of sleep at night), sleep efficiency (percentage of time spent asleep), sleep-onset latency (length of time that it takes to transit from awake to asleep), and wake after sleep onset (total amount of time spent awake after defined sleep onset). Findings showed that children with autism spectrum disorder had poorer sleep quality than children with typical development. Mechanisms underlying the differences should be further explored in order to develop an effective treatment intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the study was to describe perceptual and acoustic characteristics of emotional spontaneous speech of adolescents aged 14–16 years. 18 adolescents aged 14–16 years (9 boys and 9 girls, three people in each age) were participants. Perceptual analysis of speech of children by adults (70 Russian speakers and 70 speakers of other languages) was conducted to define the emotional state via voice and speech characteristics. Instrumental and linguistic analysis was used to determine acoustic features and linguistic information on which listeners rely while recognizing the adolescents' state. It was shown that listeners had difficulty in recognizing the emotional state of adolescents, but Russian-speaking listeners recognized the emotional state better (26% of phrases recognized with probability 0.75–1.0) than speakers of other languages. Adults recognized comfort better than discomfort, Russian listeners better than foreigners. Russian listeners are likely to rely on acoustic and linguistic information, speakers of other languages – on acoustic features of adolescents' speech. Phrases uttered in comfort are characterized by a wider pitch range vs. phrases uttered in the neutral state. It was revealed that the phrases of girls uttered in comfort have significantly higher average pitch values vs. discomfort. There were no significant differences between boys and girls in acoustic characteristics of emotional speech. Phrase duration and pitch range values can be included in automatic recognition systems of the speaker's emotional state via speech as additional informative features. The paper discusses the specificity of emotion manifestation in adolescents and the possibility of further use of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulation using a mock scanner preparation is beneficial for pediatric patients undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without sedation for the assessment of neurocognitive function. However, using a simulation protocol for improving the completion of pediatric MRI has not been studied extensively. A simulation protocol using a mock scanner "Zero-Tesla" preparation immediately before 3T MRI was utilized based on participants' demographics. The success rate of each protocol step was compared between children with typical development (TD) and those with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Two-hundred forty-one children (4-17 years; 152 males, 89 females; 42.3% TD and 57.7% NDDs) were included. Acceptable MRI qualities were obtained for 100 (98.0%) and 130 (93.5%) children in the TD and NDD groups, respectively. In the NDD group, Zero-T application rates were higher in the young childhood (TD vs NDD; 2% vs 56%, p <.001), middle childhood (5% vs 38%, p <.01), and adolescence (0% vs 49%, p <.001) subgroups than those in the TD group. Use of a simulation protocol could contribute to the successful completion of advanced MRI without sedation in children with TD and NDDs. • A simulation protocol could contribute to successful advanced MRI without sedation. • Typically developing children as well as those with NDDs benefitted. • The younger subgroups showed particularly high success rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is evidence that school-aged children with cerebral palsy (CP) may present deficits in executive functions (EF) greater than would be expected considering their intellectual ability. However, no studies have focused on characterizing EF in this group at an earlier critical period – the preschool years. Furthermore, and given evidence from typically-developing (TD) children, deficits in EF are associated with potential detrimental effects on social and educational development – which can include drawing. Our aim was to compare preschool children with CP, matched in chronological age and intellectual ability with a group of TD children, regarding their executive functioning and drawing abilities. In addition, we examined the relationships between these variables in each of the groups. Twenty-eight children were evaluated in executive functions and drawing tasks. Differences were found in some aspects of cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control, but not in working memory. Additionally, the quality of the drawings was significantly poorer in the CP group. In the TD group, there was an association between greater inhibitory control (but not cognitive flexibility or working memory) and drawing quality. In the CP group, although non-significant, medium-sized correlations were observed between drawing and several aspects of executive functioning. Overall, our results suggest more similarities than differences in the executive functioning of children with CP (and preserved cognitive ability) and TD children. However, there were still important between-group differences in their drawing abilities. There was also a distinct pattern of associations between drawing and executive functions in the clinical group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sibling and friendship relationships are quite similar, in that they are both dyadic and reciprocal, and offer the child feelings of warmth, trust, loyalty and intimacy. Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often experience difficulties in their interpersonal relationships. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of and to acknowledge possible links between sibling and friendship relationships of children with ADHD and typical development. Participants were 40 ADHD children and 120 typically developing peers, attending Greek primary schools (Mage = 9.51 years, SD = 1.1). The Sibling Relationship Questionnaire, sociometric nominations, and the Friendship Quality Questionnaire were used. The results showed that children with ADHD had greater antagonism with their siblings and fewer reciprocated friendships. Significant differences in friendship quality between the two groups were observed. Sibling relationships were found to influence all children's number of mutual friends, and the friendship quality of the typically developing children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The present study aimed at investigating mother–child dyadic co-regulation patterns in dyads with children with intellectual disability (ID). Method: 24 children paired for developmental age and vocabulary size (8 with chromosome 14 aberrations, 8 with Down syndrome, and 8 with typical development) and their mothers participated in the study. The Revised-Relational Coding Scheme was employed to assess mother–child dyadic co-regulation. Results: The dyads with children with ID appeared to have significantly fewer episodes of symmetric-patterns (i.e., situations in which mother and child share a mutual focus of attention) than those with typically developing children. In addition, the dyads with children with chromosome 14 aberrations showed the highest proportion of unengaged patterns (i.e., situations in which the partners do not interact with one another). Conclusions: A severe level of ID in combination with autistic traits, as frequently found in chromosome 14 aberrations, could lead to a less optimal mother–child interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L'influence du genre du couple agresseur–victime et celui du contexte socio-émotionnel de l'agression sur le jugement de blâme ont été étudiés via le paradigme d'Anderson dans trois échantillons correspondant à trois âges : 11 ans, 15 ans et 20 ans. Les résultats ont mis en évidence que les adolescents et les adultes sont plus sévères avec un garçon qui agresse une fille qu'avec une fille qui agresse un garçon alors que les préadolescents ne font pas de différence. De plus, les trois groupes sont moins sévères avec un agresseur précédemment humilié ou claqué qu'agissant sans raison, mais les préadolescents ne feront pas de différence entre un garçon agressant une fille et une fille agressant un garçon alors que les adolescents seront toujours plus sévères avec un garçon agressant une fille et les adultes le seront uniquement lorsque le garçon aura été claqué avant de commettre lui-même une agression. Impact of gender of the aggressor–victim pair and of socio-emotional context of the aggression on judgment of blame were evaluated using Anderson's Information Integration Theory. Three age groups were compared: preadolescents, adolescents and young adults. Results showed that adolescents and young adults appropriated more blame to a boy attacking a girl versus a girl attacking a boy, than preadolescents who did not distinguish between male and female aggressors. According to the literature, these results may be explained by the widely held view that men are stronger than women. They could also be explained by the fact that the consequences for a male who attacks a female are generally worse than for a female who attacks a male, in that they are punished more severely, particularly by adolescents who are building their own gendered identities. Moreover, all groups appropriated less blame to aggressors who were humiliated or slapped before they committed the behavior. In other words, they take the socio-emotional context of the aggression into account as an extenuating circumstance. However, whilst preadolescents did not distinguish between male and female aggressors, adolescents were always more critical of a man who had attacked a woman than of a woman who had attacked a man. Adults were only more critical of males specifically when the males had been slapped before attacking a female. These results may reflect traditional male and female stereotypes whereby society expects adult men to be strong and able to withstand provoked whilst it is more acceptable for boys to be affected by and respond to being slapped. Finally, as expected, the consequences of the aggressive behaviors were taken into account differently across the different age groups. Adults were significantly more critical in zero consequence situations and significantly less critical in situations presenting consequences than preadolescents. Adults have the ability to consider the potential consequences of actions and have perspective. On the other hand, the immaturity that comes with being a child is considered to be an extenuating circumstance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Narrative tasks provide sensitive measures in detecting language disorders and are fundamental for linguistic evaluation in children with language fragilities. • The literature on children with CIs has shown the predictive role of a composite measure of receptive language on narrative abilities. • Both children with CIs and DLD display fragilities in narration, both in the morphological and syntactic components. • Fragilities in the production of morphological elements are different among the groups. • Morphosyntactic comprehension predicted the number of pronouns produced only in the group with typical hearing. The narrative skills of children with cochlear implants (CIs) are fragile, but the factors at play and whether these difficulties could be similar to those detected in language impairment are not clear. The present study aims to assess, at the microstructural level, narrative skills, comparing children with CIs with children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or Typical Development (TD). Furthermore, the relationship between verbal (lexical and morphosyntactic) comprehension and narrative skills across groups is investigated. The narratives of 19 children with CIs (M age = 62.42 months, SD = 6.83), 13 children with DLD (M age = 65.38 months, SD = 4.27), and 18 preschool children with TD (M age = 63.67 months, SD = 4.31) were assessed in a standardized task. Articles, prepositions, pronouns, gender and number agreement, accuracy in the use of verbs, and number of arguments in each sentence were analysed. Lexical and morphosyntactic comprehension were also assessed. Performance was compared across groups using ANOVAs or Kruskal–Wallis tests. The role of lexical and morphosyntactic comprehension in predicting each morphological and syntactic element in the narrative task was examined using linear regressions. Data analysis showed that both children with CIs and DLD had fragilities in narration, both in the morphological and syntactic components. Although some differences between children with CIs and those with DLD emerged in descriptive analyses, these were not statistically significant. Regressions showed that morphosyntactic comprehension predicted the number of pronouns produced only in the TD group. The scarce differences between CI and DLD groups and the absence of an effect of morphosyntactic comprehension on pronoun production may be due to their low production of these elements in the narrative task and/or to a difficulty in managing pronouns in an expressive task regardless of their ability to comprehend them. Potential implications of these results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The child’s interaction with the natural environment allows different learning opportunities and favors their motor development, which may be affected after a period of environmental deprivation, a consequence of home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objective of the study was to analyze the different areas of motor development, as well as the quality of life of children aged 0 to 3 years old after home confinement by COVID-19 and the possible correlation between both variables, and the influence of parental stimulation on motor development during this time of exclusive interaction with the immediate environment (home and family). A descriptive study was performed. A simple and anonymous questionnaire was created for parents of children between 0 and 3 years old who lived in Spain during the period of home confinement due to COVID-19 (March to June 2020). The measurement instrument used was a questionnaire made in “Google Forms”, where the variables were collected: Motor development (measured through the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, ASQ3), Quality of life (assessed with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, PedsQL) and other variables, such as stimulation, performed during home confinement. Eighty-eight questionnaires were validated. The highest score in the motor development domains were obtained in children 2–3 years old. The motor domain of children aged 2–3 years old that obtained the highest score was communication (M = 54.69 ± 10.03) and the highest score in the quality of life was obtained in children aged 0–1 years old (M = 85.47 ± 12.39), also acquiring the lowest score in the emotional domain in all age groups (0–1, 1–2 and 2–3 years old). The assessment of motor development and quality of life after home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic did not determine low values, so it would not have been affected during this period of lack of interaction with the natural environment. Emphasizing that the emotional aspect within quality of life was the lowest score, this indicates that children from 0 to 3 years old need more emotional support in situations of variability of daily routines and of family stress.

In line with these papers on comorbidity in ASD, Manolova et al. present an original toolkit for detailed assessment of psychological functioning of children with ASD in the early life years. Keywords: atypical development; typical development; autism spectrum disorder; comorbidity; adverse childhood experiences EN atypical development typical development autism spectrum disorder comorbidity adverse childhood experiences 1 3 3 01/11/22 20220103 NES 220103 The conceptualization of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has changed from a condition that is narrowly defined and rare, to one that is defined by a wider set of diagnostic criteria and is far more common in the population. [Extracted from the article]

The research was conducted with the aim to determine the developmental trend of receptive speech in typically developing children from six to nine years of age. The sample consisted of 111 children with typical development, of both genders (49.5% of girls and 50.5% of boys), aged between 6 and 9.11 years (M=95.09, SD=16.82 in months). Participants were distributed into four age groups. Receptive speech was assessed by the Protocol for the Assessment of Receptive Speech that contains tasks for assessing auditory discrimination, rhyming, word recognition and narrative comprehension. An analysis of variance revealed that age was a significant factor of achievement on rhyming tasks (p≤0.000) and narrative comprehension (p≤0.000). There were no significant age differences in auditory discrimination (p=0.372) and word recognition (p=0.634), although some differences between arithmetic means could be seen in favour of older children. Age can explain around 67% of results variability on rhyming tasks and 56% of variability in narrative comprehension. Significant deviation that would indicate the existence of specific language impairment or intellectual disability was not determined in the participants' results.

This research (Fondecyt Proyect 11160978) aims to determine the influence of procedural memory levels on syntactic complexity in school-age subjects with typical linguistic and cognitive development. For this reason, a retrospective ex post facto research was conducted in which 119 subjects were evaluated. These subjects were divided into five groups of different school levels: preschool, second grade, fourth grade, sixth grade, and eight grade from primary school. In terms of procedural memory, an implicit learning serial reaction time (SRT) task was applied using visual-spatial series. To report syntax, we conducted an analysis of nodes of syntactic dependency present in oral narratives retold by subjects. Data was correlated and therefore a linear regression model was applied to predict the influence of one variable over the other. Results revealed significant correlations (<1.96 according to the standard index value) in each group (preschool=0.72; second grade=0.75; fourth grade=0.74; sixth grade=0.79; eight grade=0.70). The regression model reported R² values over to 0.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the role of language capacities in explaining differences in social information processing (SIP) among three school-age groups: high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, IQ > 75), children with specific learning disorder (SLD), and children with typical development (TD). Participants were 96 boys in Grades 3 to 6, comprising 25 boys with ASD, 38 with SLD, and 33 with TD. SIP measures included two peer vignettes (group entry, ambiguous provocation) to highlight influences of social context. Both clinical groups (SLD, ASD) differed significantly from the nonclinical (TD) group in total language capacities and in five of six SIP measures. As hypothesized, language capacities also significantly mediated the two disorders' associations with children's deficits along SIP stages. Findings from this novel comparative study call for consideration of semantic-pragmatic language's role when planning interventions that target social cognition in both clinical populations as well as further empirical exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olfactory adaptation is an important process that allows the individual to adjust to changes in the environment. This process has been proposed to be aberrant in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, few studies have examined olfactory adaptation in children with ASD. We examined olfactory adaptation in children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children using a pulse ejection system, which resolved problems associated with previous laboratory-based olfactory psychophysical studies. Nine children with ASD and nine TD children participated in this study and all participants completed the entire experiment. Using this system, we found that the TD group showed greater adaptation than the ASD group. Our results provide a better understanding of olfactory adaptation in children with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Atypical eating behaviors were found in 70.4% of children with autism. • Percentages were 13.1% for other disorders and 4.8% for typical children. • In autism, limited food preferences was most common, then hypersensitivity to texture. • Only children with autism had pica or pocketed food. • Grain products and chicken nuggets were the most common preferred foods in autism. Background: Previous research has not yet examined the prevalence of atypical eating behaviors in children and adolescents with autism compared to those with ADHD, other disorders, and typical development. Method: The sample comprised 2102 children: 1462 with autism, 327 with other disorders (e.g., ADHD, intellectual disability, language disorder, and learning disability), and 313 typical children, 1–18 years of age (mean 7.3). Atypical eating behaviors were assessed with the Checklist for Autism Spectrum Disorder based on a standardized parent interview conducted by licensed psychologists. Results: Atypical eating behaviors were significantly more common in autism (70.4%) than in children with other disorders (13.1%) and typical children (4.8%). For children with autism who had atypical eating behaviors, the most common behavior was limited food preferences (88%), followed by hypersensitivity to food textures (46%), other peculiar patterns most often eating only one brand of food (27%), pocketing food without swallowing (19%), and pica (12%). Grain products and/or chicken (usually nuggets) were the preferred foods for 92% of children with autism who had limited food preferences. For children with autism who had atypical eating behaviors, 25% had three or more atypical eating behaviors (vs. 0% for children with other disorders or typical development). Only children with autism had pica or pocketed food. Conclusions: The number and types of atypical eating behaviors found only in children with autism and not in children with other disorders or typical development should alert clinicians to the possibility of autism and the need to evaluate for autism in order to facilitate early identification and access to evidence-based treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centre of Pressure (CoP) location error is common when using kinematic and kinetic data to predict intersegmental forces and net joint moments during gait. Changes in peak moments due to CoP error have been reported in the literature. However, debate exists as to what levels of error are acceptable. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of CoP error on the kinetic profiles of children with typical development (TD) and children with cerebral palsy (CP) during gait. Three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data were recorded and simulated CoP errors were applied at 3 mm, 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm increments in both positive and negative anteroposterior and mediolateral directions. Absolute differences in maximum kinetic parameters between increments were assessed in conjunction with changes in the Gait Deviation Index-Kinetic (GDI-Kinetic). Changes in GDI-Kinetic above 3.6 points were considered clinically significant. Maximum peak changes of up to 24.8% (CP) and 34.7% (TD) (sagittal plane) and up to 36.8% (CP) and 61.5% (TD) (coronal plane) were demonstrated at the knee. While absolute percentage differences were high at some error increments, GDI-Kinetic results suggested that such large percentage differences may still be clinically acceptable. Children with TD demonstrated clinically significant changes in GDI-Kinetic for CoP displacements of 9 mm and 12 mm, corresponding to 23% and 35% absolute differences in maximum moments. In contrast, the clinically significant threshold was not reached for children with CP that may be related to a slower walking speed. The findings of this study highlight the need for laboratories to consider the thresholds currently used for CoP error, which will help guide quality assurance procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]